Hi Gang,

It is no secret that I struggle with a food addiction (simple carbs) and have a metabolic disorder (PCOS) in which my body responds quickly and negatively to them.  Further, my husband is diabetic and needs some carbs

In the past I have warned against carb creep and my tendency to unwittingly fall into carbs.

This weeks topic: Garnish Carbs

A week or two ago, at Whole Foods winesday the theme was valenica.  There was a wonderful tortilla omeltet where instead of flour tortillas they used thinly sliced potatoes.

"Woo hoo!  A breakfast protein AND a carb for Groomy in the same dish!" I thought. He wasnt there, so I tasted it to make sure it was something that he would like, it was wonderful, and I snagged the receipe.

The next day I oddly found myself craving a strawberry cream cheese sandwich (His breakfast carbs). I ate half of one.

The day after that...I desired crackers so I bought a bag of goldfish crackers from the vending machine and had them for lunch.

The day after that, I wanted pretzels. So back to the vending machine. Dinner that night, I helped myself to his rice (instead of my riced cauliflower)

And the day after that-it was CHEETOS.

At this point I thought "What the hell?" and headed to the gym to weigh myself. I was up 4 lbs (yep, I went from 138.6-142.?.

Guess what I had to spend the NEXT week doing?  Basically a no-carb diet (only vegetables..no fruit and trust me I wanted organges and strawberries like you couldnt believe) and 2 hours at the gym every day (I.e. body pump + philoxing; running 8 miles; cardio kick box + weights).  It really sucked and all the gym time ate into my work.

So be aware of "garnish carbs" hidden in foods. It was ONE small layer. Not much at all compared to the rest of the omlet. More there for texture than anything else. But that damn garnish layer turned into 4 lbs and 5 hours of unnecessarily gym time

You don't really need to beat yourself up... by punishing yourself with more gym time. Losing those few pounds is going to be what you put into your mouth. While we should always be on top of a weight gain... as we all know the slippery slope, we don't need to punish ourselves. That is what I am hearing when I read your post. It too is part of the disordered mindset that got us where we were. By all means cut back on carbs next week, but...Be kind to yourself.

:) 

Thank you! 

I appreciate your kind words!

Hi,

Like NYMOM said be kind to yourself. 

I just went through this myself, different foods but the same result.  I acknowledged what I was doing to myself.   Then went on to see why I did it, and came up with old habits die hard/sabotage ?  I haven't done the carb thing often but it scared me enough to get back on track.  For what its worth acknowledging what I had done and promptly going back to protein first really helped me.  Good luck this can be hard sometimes.

Thank you!

And recognizing and acknowledging the pattern is really hard for me. I fall in so easy. Kind of like alcoholism ..

Ditto, I totally agree.  I am always going to have to be vigilant to stop the pattern before it takes hold.  Good luck, I thought I had this issue under control.  Apparantly not...

Why is your diabetic husband eating so many carbs?  That makes no sense to me to start with, and of course eating carbs begets needing to eat more carbs, hence the reason I refuse to eat during the day.  I won't ride that rollercoaster, not eating is so much easier to handle during the day then riding the blood sugar up and downs.  Sorry you have to find out the hard way, but everyone does.  When your jeans get tight you will cry and toss the crap and return to the fold.  Its all part of the learning curve.

I was wondering about that too. When I was diabetic I was much better off staying away from carbs and sticking to protein.

If he doesnt get some carbs, he passes out. I wonder if his meds need to be cut back, he tells the doctor, she leaves them where they are at.

I know that there needs to be balance but that is scary that his meds are bringing him that low he has to eat carbs just to stay normal.  I would really have his doctor evaluate his medication and diet.  I am not suggesting never eating complex carbs or any treats ever, but I just don't want to see your poor husband taking meds that are harsh on his body that he truly might not need as more or at all.

Good Luck!